While false memories are usuallu given as a convenient explanation for the Mandela effect, I believe that it mssing important sides of the phenomenon. We know how it can be really frustrating to trace a book, a film or a TV series episode (notably in the case of old SF-fantasy anthologies which looked more or less the same, a feature illustrated in the recent X-Files episode The lost art of Forehead Sweat). The thread on false memories had provided an example of a so-called false memory that wasn't, of a TV version of The Godfather. Had I not watched it in 2004, maybe it would be still considered here as a valid example.
The problem is even worse with logos and brands. Much is made of research by company historians, but they have serious limitations when it comes to state that it is definitely impossible that somebody saw in a distant past a different version of a given logo. Records are often incomplete, who could record every instance of the use of a logo along many decades around the world, including local mistakes or initiatives in obscure ad campaigns ?And even if they are not, specialists of the history of a company may miss some significant parts of it. They comprise of thousands of pages, and it's very easy to miss something. We should add reproductions of known brands in fiction, and sometimes counterfeiting, which could account for many memories of 'innacurate' logos.
I have an amusing example of mine. It is not of a false memory, but of how we could have very different perceptions of the world. Under the title Goldorak, Japanese anime UFO Robot Grendizer was a huge success in France and other countries in the late 70s and the 80s. The airing was orregular, and while the first episodes aired in July 1978, I had always believed that the last ones had only in the Fall of 1983. It was a hot topic at school, so I couldn't imagine that it could be otherwise, as the last aired episode was always heavily discussed. However, I read sometimes that the last episodes had aired in October 1980, which I dismissed as bad journalism. Nonetheless, later on the web I found that a number of old viewers were claiming that they had watched them in October 1980, at a slot that was filled when completed by a new airing of the then successfull Japanese live series San Ku Kaï (Uchu kara no messeji : Ginga taisen, also known internationnally as Message from space: Galactic battle, Message from space TV Series or Sankuokai) shortly before All Hallows' Eve. They were quite adamant at that, but I was also reinforced in my opinion by the fact that other posters and a number of magazines were of the same opinion than me. However, it was found that the archives from the INA (the French Institute for the audiosual media), which record all airings on every resort, state that the last episodes had indeed aired in October 1980. I can't explain how I could have missed them with nobody mentionning them to me, and how many others could have been mistaken in the same way, especially as I had a clear recollection of the said re-airing of San ku Kaï, as it had allowed me to watch the first episode that I had partially missed. As another poster involved in the discussion had said, sometimes, we seem to live in parrallel universes !
The problem is even worse with logos and brands. Much is made of research by company historians, but they have serious limitations when it comes to state that it is definitely impossible that somebody saw in a distant past a different version of a given logo. Records are often incomplete, who could record every instance of the use of a logo along many decades around the world, including local mistakes or initiatives in obscure ad campaigns ?And even if they are not, specialists of the history of a company may miss some significant parts of it. They comprise of thousands of pages, and it's very easy to miss something. We should add reproductions of known brands in fiction, and sometimes counterfeiting, which could account for many memories of 'innacurate' logos.
I have an amusing example of mine. It is not of a false memory, but of how we could have very different perceptions of the world. Under the title Goldorak, Japanese anime UFO Robot Grendizer was a huge success in France and other countries in the late 70s and the 80s. The airing was orregular, and while the first episodes aired in July 1978, I had always believed that the last ones had only in the Fall of 1983. It was a hot topic at school, so I couldn't imagine that it could be otherwise, as the last aired episode was always heavily discussed. However, I read sometimes that the last episodes had aired in October 1980, which I dismissed as bad journalism. Nonetheless, later on the web I found that a number of old viewers were claiming that they had watched them in October 1980, at a slot that was filled when completed by a new airing of the then successfull Japanese live series San Ku Kaï (Uchu kara no messeji : Ginga taisen, also known internationnally as Message from space: Galactic battle, Message from space TV Series or Sankuokai) shortly before All Hallows' Eve. They were quite adamant at that, but I was also reinforced in my opinion by the fact that other posters and a number of magazines were of the same opinion than me. However, it was found that the archives from the INA (the French Institute for the audiosual media), which record all airings on every resort, state that the last episodes had indeed aired in October 1980. I can't explain how I could have missed them with nobody mentionning them to me, and how many others could have been mistaken in the same way, especially as I had a clear recollection of the said re-airing of San ku Kaï, as it had allowed me to watch the first episode that I had partially missed. As another poster involved in the discussion had said, sometimes, we seem to live in parrallel universes !
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